The question gave her pause.In truth, answering something like that felt more intimate than a naked tumble in that theoretical bed.“When did I offer the—unquestionably enticing, once-in-a-lifetime, even for a royal—opportunity to ‘bed’ me, as you so quaintly put it?”
“You’ve been flirting with me.”
She waved that off.“I flirt with everyone.Well,” she amended, “everyone that gives me the pussy sparkle.”
He made a choking sound.“Excuse me?”
“You know, chemistry.That indefinable spark.The genital awakening of interest when you encounter someone who rings your special bell.”She waved at her crotch, just in case he missed her meaning.
“You seem to be defining it just fine,” he replied in a strained voice.“I’ve never heard it put that way.”
“I don’t know what you guys call it.Dick itch?”
“I’m pretty sure that’s something different.So, you’re telling me you’d have sex with someone who gives you this… sparkle, without having built trust with them?”
It amused her no end that he avoided using the word.“Uh, yeah.That’s called having a healthy libido.Good sex doesn’t require an intimate relationship.”
“Healthy is not the word that springs to mind regarding your intimate relationships.”
She slid him an incredulous look.“You’ve known me for five minutes, boy-o, and I—if I may be so blunt—am not the one running from a vengeful bride who did something so awful to you that you fled with only the fancy clothes on your back.”
“And five platinum coins,” he countered sourly.
The wealth of a small principality, yeah.She had no argument for that.“Whatever,” she replied.Not her wittiest comeback, but she was still a little off kilter from the accusations about her approach to sex.Who was he to judge her?Dy and Phin got to give her shit about her disinclination to form lasting relationships—and there were reasons for that—not some random guy she’d just met.Talk about a sparkle-douser.
“I could do what I have in mind without your permission,” he pointed out when she said nothing more.
“Now we’re at threats?So much for the trust-building exercise.”
He sighed in pure exasperation.“You’re impossible.”
She couldn’t help an impertinent grin, indulging herself by patting his lean thigh.Ooh, yummy.There, that was more like herself.She wouldn’t let him get her down.“Now you’re starting to know the real me.”
He peeled her hand off his thigh, as if in distaste.Fine then.“You want answers,” he pointed out.“So do I.”He waved the wand around, grimacing when it poofed a burst of pink glitter that wafted over his face.
Cha probably should’ve controlled herself, but she snickered.“You look cute with pink glitter in your hair.”
Holding her gaze, an irritated lick of blue flame in his indigo eyes, he tapped the wand against the path-box.A circle of crystal, mostly clear with a blue tint, enveloped the box.Even a mostly mundane like Cha could tell that meant it wouldn’t send or receive.She frowned, deeply uneasy.“Hey.”
“Trust me.”
“No way.”
“Only for a moment.”
“A moment is all it takes.”
“So cynical.”
“You have yet to plumb the depths of my cynicism.”With a sigh, she figured it for a done deal.“Spill already.”
“First tell me how you happen to have a Moonruby wand.”
“Moonruby?Never heard of that.”
“And you callmeignorant.The wand is pink.”
“I noticed.”
